"The One"

There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of of a man.

- Winston Churchill

Let me jump to the conclusion: Emmit is "The One."

I saw Emmit on equine.com. Something about him jumped out at me. Maybe it was his stripe and snip that kind of reminded me of Fancy. Maybe his small-ish size (he stands at 14.3 hh...just made the horse/pony cut off!). And thus began my love affair with Emmit.

He was stabled up in Adairsville at a beautiful barn (www.inunisonfarm.com). I dragged Richard along (he's so sweet every once in a while...) and drove up to meet Emmit on a VERY cold, blustery saturday. It was love at first sight - Emmit was standing so quietly on the cross ties, let me pet him all over (including his face and ears - bonus!). The trainer/owner of the stable got on him first; trot, canter, and right over fences, easy as pie. I fell in love again.

I got on him and felt great. Even though he's 14.3, he has a presence. I was told he can be testy - and that he was. He barely moved into a trot. But I liked him instantly - it was something about his sanity, his calmness, his trustworthiness that made me feel comfortable for the first time in a long time to really push a horse. I picked up the crop on Lee Ann's recommendation...a few taps and he moves out like a charm! A bouncy trot, but he moves like a big horse. I love this pony. After a few extra strides, he picks up the canter - it's not a "Cards" canter, but I can half-seat it and it felt good. He spooked at something in the wind. "That's about as bad as he gets when he spooks." I love him.

We ended up going over a small cross rail and a little gate - he doesn't rush, he literally hops over them. I get a sense that I will really enjoy jumping on this horse. Emmit will melt away the fear I had developed over the last few months. I just knew he will.

When we drove away from there, I knew in my heart this was going to be my pony. I could keep looking, but he was what I wanted. A horse that I can trust. A horse that will teach me. A horse that will be my buddy. A horse who will love me back.

The rest of the "quest" was so painlessly easy, thanks to Lee Ann and Kathy (Emmit's former mom). Emmit came to Green Tree Horse Farm on Feb 1 for a 2 week trial period. He was vet checked on Feb 8 - besides a questionable right hock issue which may need to be injected at some point and needing dental work, he checked out in good health. I only rode him several times that week because of the weather, but he never once spooked, acted up, or looked phased by his new "home." I told Lee Ann and Kathy a few days before his trial period was up to go ahead and deposit the check - I wanted Emmit to be my first horse. The hunt was over.

*Update: It's been a week since Emmit became "MY horse." His true colors are starting to come out now - he was introduced into one herd and proceeded to kick Sid and chase Fancy/Choc. Wrong move, buddy! He was moved to the other paddock and has quickly climbed the social ladder - he duked it out with Cisco and seems to have taken leadership of the herd. As such, we're looking to name him something like "Napoleon Dynamite" or "The Little General" in honor of his Short Man Syndrome.

Emmit appears to have been kicked last week - he developed a "lump" on the right side of his belly, right behind the girth which is slowly healing. He was slightly tender for a few days, so I opted not to ride him during the week. I rode him yesterday for the first time in a week...it was rough! He refused to trot, he refused to canter, he started running me into the fence ("get off me!"), and he tossed his head all over the place. I felt severely defeated and remembered Teresa telling me about owing a horse - "you take everything personally." I was taking it very personally that Emmit was fighting me. I wanted my horse to respect me, to be attentive to me. I wanted us to ride in harmony, not struggling the entire way around the ring. I wanted to jump but he was being so difficult, I was half given up. I was sitting in the ring, totally deflated, when Jennifer and Danny came in to join us. She suggested I go over something very low, just to end the ride on a "good" note. She lowered the cross rails for us and we went over it several times without a problem. I'm glad she made us do that - it made the whole experience less painful.

I went out today, thinking maybe he learned his lesson yesterday. Not quite. He was slightly better, but still refusing to pick up the trot/canter and made me work entirely too hard for something too simple. He tried to rub me off the fence again. The only saving grace today was that Teresa and Shorty were in the ring with us, which seemed to motivate Emmit a little bit. Again, I was completely frustrated and defeated. Teresa and her wise words of wisdom - "Give him some time, he's only been here several weeks." Duh, that's so true...I was losing patience and this is precisely when I need to have patience. A partnership rarely comes "just like that." In my head I know everybody's had to work at it - Sid and Bridgette, Karen and Fred, even Meghan and Mikey. But I still feel terrible when my horse decides I'm not "good enough" to listen to. I suppose I start to blame myself for his behaviors.

And then my God send came. Jess must have heard from Teresa that I was having trouble with Emmit; she came out to check out the situation. I had her get on him to see what he'd do. Besides tossing his head and trying to rub her off a few times, he did GREAT. What the hell. He picked up the trot, moved out beautifully, and even picked up the canter without having to go around the ring shouting "canter damnit!" and frantically kicking Emmit while he broke out in a super fast trot. Thanks, Emmit. Now I just feel like a tool, completely violated. This pony just completely disrespected me and walked all over me.

I got back on him and he felt different - I felt fear, submission, respect. He went zooming around the ring at a trot and picked up the canter with a decent transition. I felt much better, even if this was just a result of Jess having ridden him. At least I know he can do it and I can make him do it.

Just 2 weeks until the HSV show at GIHP. I can't even get him to canter without spurs, a crop, and Jess. Awesome.

Second Thoughts...

It is not enough for a man to know how to ride; he must know how to fall. ~Mexican Proverb

And how true that statement.

I returned to Southern Cross Guest Ranch (www.southcross) the following week, thinking I will try to do more with my potential candidates - groom them, tack them up, move them out a little more, attempt to go over something small. Jess had already jumped them over a tiny vertical rail the other day so I wasn't all that hesitant about trying, although I had been warned that neither horse had been jumped "maybe 2-3 times before this." Eh, what the hell! Give it a shot!

Besides not being able to put the bridle on Cards (she wasn't on cross ties, she kept backing up...), grooming and tacking proved to be uneventful. Richard decided Valentine was a "prettier horse," I think because of her very muscular conformation.

I got on Cards first - she was my first choice after all.

Walk, trot, canter - it was all beautiful. Smooth gaits, canter like a rocking horse...I'd forgotten how good it can feel when you actually sit the canter (Sorry, Biscuit). So, I thought, let's try the little vertical rail - literally a foot above the ground.

Yeah, not quite.

Cards refused the rail, which wasn't a huge problem. The problem was her gut instinct, visceral reaction to whatever she didn't like about that whole situation - she went into a bucking frenzy. 1, 2, 3 bucks, and I was off her back and on the ground. Thanks to the 5 layers of clothing I was wearing that day (it was 30 degrees), I landed with a hefty "poof!" and got up unscathed.

Watch Jeri be bucked off!

http://www.youtube.com/watchv=OLjZaHNy5DM&feature=related

Valentine had issues at the beginning. She was spooking at something in the round pen outside (blue tarp? scary monsters?) and it took me a while to get her to even walk the other end of the ring. I must have been rather aggressive (I thought I was just being assertive) as I was warned that "she gets worse if you get in her mouth and kick her." Meh, not quite for me. I need a horse that I can kick and yank and can take it all! Valentine did go over the rail very smoothly and willingly, which gave her a big fat + on my list.

But in the end, I left Southern Cross with second thoughts. Maybe this isn't quite it. Do I need to keep looking for "the One?"

And [God] took a handful of southerly wind, blew His breath over it, and created the horse.... Thou shall fly without wings, and conquer without any sword. Oh, horse.

*Bedouin Legend*

One of my favorite quotes of all time.

I used this quote in my sociology thesis the sacred relationship between God, humanity, and the horse in the Bedouin culture, whose sole existence depends on the horse. What a beautiful image, and what a perfect relationship between humans and animals in general.

First off, my apologies - I have to bring you up to speed as things have been progressing with regard to my "horse hunt" (and no, I will not be shooting horses with any weaponry, as some had mistakenly understood...no....). In the beginning of January, my trainer Jess contacted a facility in Madison, GA (http://www.southcross.com/) from where she had bought several of her own horses/lessons horses with much success. This is where Biscuit (the lesson horse I have been riding thus far) came from. A largely Western facility where they offer trail rides, B&B type services, Western training, it also does a limited amount of English training/ground work for "prospects." Jess thought this would be a good place for us to start the process - lots of prospective options in 1 location, good quality horses, good prices. Fair enough...I wouldn't know where to start myself.

Here are my contestants (we narrowed it down to these 2 from 5 potential candidates):

Contestant 1: Cards

4 yo QH mare 15+? hh

Contestant #2: Valentine

8 yo QH mare 16.1 hh

After trying both out, gut instinct was "Cards." We connected better, I liked her dog-like personality, and her coloring was absolutely amazing. She was slightly over my budget that I had set for myself and was "non-negotiable" since another potential buyer from Canada was looking at her...

I left that day with a "glad that first experience is over so now I can actually think rationally" feeling.

The quest begins...

It was just a foolish childish dream. And at 28 years of age, it is now a reality.

"I want my own horse."

My first recollection of mounting this beautiful beast of an animal was when I was roughly around the age of 5, when my mother and I visited a friend of her's up in Hokkaido (northern Japan). My mother's friend was the daughter of a thoroughbred farm owner who bred horses for the race track. I remember being hoisted up into my mother's arms as she straddled the gorgeous bay horse. I remember the ride being extremely bumpy and uncomfortable. I remember going around and around in a circle, atop this massive animal. I fell in love with the horse.

From then on began my obsession with horses. I made galloping noises with cups and bowls, turning them upside down on the table and clop-clopping them obnoxiously. I straddled my chair as if I were straddling a horse. I whinnied occasionally for no reason. My parents figured it was just another passing phase - every girl goes through that infamous "I want a pony" stage of development.

But not I. I kept charging on with my dream to ride, and to eventually buy my own horse. The next opportunity I got to ride came when I was in 5th grade - my mother's friend's husband rode dressage in college and was continuing this hobby of his in the suburbs of Tokyo. I jumped on this opportunity and tagged along every chance I got, which was 1 or 2 weekends a month at the most. My poor parents dished out 6000 yen for a 30 min lesson. Just as I got to the point where I could post in sync with my horse's trot, my parents suddenly "ran out of funds" and the invitations to drive me out to the stable stopped.

I truthfully have no idea where my love for horses came from. My parents are clearly NOT horse lovers, nor are they even really jazzed about the idea that I ride these creatures ("don't you see how dangerous it is? You could turn out like 'Super Man'!"). And yet, through high school and college I continued to ride every chance I got - I leased a horse at a local barn in high school, worked a summer mucking stalls from 7am-7pm in exchange for lessons, I went on solo riding trips in Southern France, Peru, Wales (solo only bc nobody else would do it with me), and found a hunter/humper stable in Conyers and started showing in a few local shows with them in the last several years.

All I can say is that riding is something I honestly enjoy doing. It doesn't matter whether it's 20 degrees and raining outside, whether I eat rice and beans daily because I spent the last bit of my pay check on lessons, or whether I fall off and roll around in the dirt like an earthworm writhing in pain. I like every bit of it, and I have no idea why.

And at age 28, I have finally come to the conclusion that I have to do this - I have to find MY horse. No more lesson horses, no more jealous looks at my stablemates who have that 'special bond' with their own horses. It's a bit like having a child, I suppose; if you keep waiting for the "right time" you'll never end up having one. And so now is my time! This is it!

And thus begins the quest for my very first horse.